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read more en-us Tue, 08 Apr 2008 10:03:04 GMT Tue, 08 Apr 2008 10:03:04 GMT

Digital Business, Live From New York.

Google Taking On Amazon With App Engine (GOOG, AMZN)

read more Tue, 08 Apr 2008 03:54:00 GMT Vasanth Sridharan

Google is launching Google App Engine , a suite of free services for developers which willl compete squarely with offerings Amazon (AMZN) already provides. TechCrunch has a good description , but here's the gist:

Servers: Amazon's = EC2; Google's = Python
Database: Amazon's = Simple DB; Google's = BigTable
Storage: Amazon's = S3; Google's = GFS.

The good : Google's package is completely free, with limitations on storage, bandwidth and processor power. Once it's out of beta, developers will be able to exceed those limitations, but they will be charged for overages.

The bad : Amazon allows people to choose their services a la carte. Google App Engine is all or nothing.

The big picture: This is an interesting direction for Google (GOOG) to take, but it's not disruptive technology . Like Google Docs and Google Spreadsheets, this is aimed directly at an established competitor's' offerings. But unlike those two examples, Google isn't aiming at the heart of of a competitor's business. Office is core to what Microsoft (MSFT) does, but Amazon's services are sidelights designed to take advantage of the company's prodigious resources -- when they work .

GOOG MSFT AMZN

Prediction: UK Online Ads Pass TV In 2009

read more Mon, 07 Apr 2008 22:46:00 GMT Michael Learmonth

Online advertising will surpass TV in one key market in 2009: the UK. This, according to the UK arm of the Internet Advertising Bureau , which estimated the size of the UK advertising market with PricewaterhouseCoopers and the World Advertising Research Center.

How much online vs. TV ad spending is expected in 2009? We don't know from the Reuters coverage , which just gives us the 2007 numbers. UK online advertising -- both display ads and search -- came in at $5.6 billion in 2007, or 15.3% of the market. That compares to a 19.9% market share for print advertising and 21.8% for TV.

By the end of 2009, online will have the biggest share, according to IAB chief Guy Phillipson: "With broadband speeds on the up and consumers spending more time on more sites, the outlook for online advertising is rosy -- in fact we expect it to overtake TV in 2009 when it will become the UK's biggest medium," he said in a statement.

Another reason for online's ascendance: TV advertising in the UK is a relatively small market compared to the $70 billion business it is in the U.S.

AMD: Sales Slumping, Firing 10% Of Workforce

read more Mon, 07 Apr 2008 22:44:00 GMT Vasanth Sridharan

AMD (AMD) says that Q1 sales will be below expectations, and that it will lay off 1,680 employees -- 10% of its workforce.

AMD says it expects revenue of $1.5 billion - about 6% below the Street's $1.62 billion consensus. More important, sales dropped 15% from the previous quarter, instead of the 7% drop the company had expected. To blame: A devastating price war with Intel (INTC), and/or "uncertainties in the broader economy."

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